..."and a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness; evil minded people shall not travel on it, but it shall be for those wayfarers who are traveling toward God. (Isaiah 35:8, adapted)

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

In the first post I looked at the silence of God and how His silence can help take usout of our own perspective and bring usinto His perspective and reality.

In this post I want to explore this idea further by looking at the idea of how God's silence tests our hearts and gives us opportunity to become more like Him.

Any good teacher knows that you should not giveout the answer too quickly. Part of the learningprocess is exploring: the seeing of how things are put together, how things are related, the cause and effect of things. It is no different with our inward lives. We have very little knowledge of what we are like in our deep inward parts until God shows us.

But what will cause us to ask God to show us how we are deep within? Often, when my question or prayer is not answered, it brings up things in me thatwould not be stirred up otherwise. I'm agreat Christian when I get my own wayquickly, and so are you! But delay thatgetting just a bit and now we're in a completely different soup.

When we ask God for something, it maysurely be His will to give it to us, butwe must surely allow Him to give it to usin His own time. There are times whenGod is way ahead of us, giving us thingsbefore we even ask, but there are alsotimes when what we ask for does not appearwhen we had hoped it would.

I love that passage in the book of Danielwhen Meshach, Shadrack and Abednego areasked to worship idols and are about tobe thrown into the fiery furnace. Theyboldly say, "Our God is able to deliverus, but if not, we will not bow down to idols" (Daniel 3:17-18 paraphrased).

Can we say this, even in the face of suredeath? How wonderful it is to have the testimony of being delivered from the flame, but really, how glorious to not bow down toidols NO MATTER WHAT!

Dear ones, God is after that testimonyin our hearts. If you think He will not test our motives to within an inch of ourlives, or even an inch past our lives, then you do not know the God of Scripture. He searches the inmost places of the heart, Heis able to divide the soulish from the spiritual (Hebrews 4:12). And how relentlesslygood He is in both his motive and technique!

And you thought you were just simply asking fora new car, or house, or job or whatever!Meanwhile God is getting ready for you todo a little deep sea diving with Him into yourdepths. Don't try it without Him, you will beimmediately drowned and lost. He must guide us within, He must set up the experiences that show us what we need to see. He uses thesimple experiences and needs of life to take usdeeper, to reveal what is in our hearts.

Surely He can give us things without thelessons attached, but really, what is morevaluable? We see what we want, but He seeswhat we need. Now don't go thinking thatevery blessing in life comes with a greatand miserable test. Some are just free gifts.And some are great heavenly gifts that comein the form of what we do with the silenceof God.

Waiting is just tough stuff for us humans.More often than not it brings impatience and irritation. It may cause us to question God'smotives when it should be causing us to seeour own. It may bring about jealousy as we see others around us getting their answers whilewe wait in hope. It may bring about a decision to stop living a life of trust and try to be self-sufficient and self-made. Dear God!

Recall all the thoughts and emotions you may have felt while you were waiting for an answer to prayer or even just waiting for the plumber to show up, or the bus tocome. Waiting tests our heart. In the silenceof inactivity that extends from when we begin to seek for something, and the time we possessit, our souls reveal themselves.

If we think that God is somehow holding outon us, or worse yet, trying to be mean, thenwe show our need for a heavenly perspective.God always has our best interests at heart.He always provides for our needs. But wecan mistake our needs for our wants, or even make the mistake of valuing earthlyneeds above heavenly ones. Humans alonehave the capability of seeing thatdelaying certain pleasures (eating apackage of oreos) might help us inthe long run (we might live to theripe old age of 90 with a cholesterolfree arteries!).

God knows when to give us what He haschosen for us. I know that when youare waiting this truth sounds like a platitude. It is all part of theprocess. Be glad if you see unpleasantreactions arising as you wait. Well,at least be glad that you can see thatthey are there and then offer them toGod. You don't want to live with all yourfine things and all that garbage stuckdown inside you, do you?

When God is silent, He could be testing our hearts. Allow thattesting....it will bear much eternalfruit. The earthly treasures we willleave behind, but spiritual fruit andtreasures are eternal. Silence can begolden!